Exercise 2.7

Deduce from Ex. 2.6 that ord p n ! ≤ n ∕ ( p − 1 ) and that n ! n ≤ ∏ ⁡ p ≤ n p 1 ∕ ( p − 1 ) .

Answers

(The original statement ∏ ⁡ p ∣ n p 1 ∕ ( p − 1 ) was modified.)

Proof.

ord p n ! = ∑ k ≥ 1 ⌊ n p k ⌋ ≤ ∑ k ≥ 1 n p k = n p 1 1 − 1 p = n p − 1

The decomposition of n ! in prime factors is

n ! = p 1 α 1 p 2 α 2 ⋯ p k α k where α i = ord p i n ! ≤ n p i − 1 , and p i ≤ n , i = 1 , 2 , ⋯ , k .

Then

n ! ≤ p 1 n p 1 − 1 p 2 n p 2 − 1 ⋯ p k n p n − 1 n ! n ≤ p 1 1 p 1 − 1 p 2 1 p 2 − 1 ⋯ p k 1 p n − 1 ≤ ∏ p ≤ n p 1 p − 1

(the values of p in this product describe all prime numbers p ≤ n .) □

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2022-07-19 00:00
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